Chapter 1: Prologue

The child clung to her mother’s gown as they stood atop the highest turret of the castle.  A great bird soared above, its shadow flickering across the rough stone floor.  The girl crouched down to touch it, but it was gone.

She turned her attention to her Aunt Brigid, entreating a man in black armor, heads so close their hair intertwined in the breezy updraft, raven and brown.  The maiden laughed to see the wild airs play with them so.

Though Brigid was distraught, the man was perfectly calm.  Her aunt’s words escaped the girl, lost in a distant roar.

But the man’s reply rang clear in the sudden silence.  “No reason to get excited,” he said, smiling as he jumped onto the ledge.

Then he let himself fall backward, over the wall and into the battle raging below.